Summer Fun

Here is a mix of pictures throughout the summer.  They are in no particular order, but it's obvious that despite the cold and rainy weather (and very few days in the pool), we still had a lot of fun!  :)

On one of Alex's last days in preschool, they had a Mother's Day celebration.  We ate lunch together, and then the students pampered their moms with massages, manicures/pedicures and a very special gift - a necklace pendant with Alex's fingerprint dried into it.  It was a wonderful day!  :)

Alex wanted to dress like Dad one Sunday for church, so this is the only outfit they had that matched each other perfectly.  It's so cute to see Alex admire Nelson the way he does!

Despite the colder temps and rainy weather, we did manage to get a few days of water-fun.  :)

And after the fun in the sprinkler and the pool, there's nothing like resting in a lawn chair in the warm sun!

Isn't he cute with his bath-time mohawk?!  :)

This is a picture from downtown Canton on First Friday (a monthly fun night that we enjoy attending).  The kids insist on getting pictures taken with one of the many sculptures every time we go downtown!  This month (July, I believe) it was the yellow-ducky!  :)

And on one of Emily's last days of first grade, we had a family kick-ball and picnic day.  Alex loved being able to participate (he was already done with preschool) and Emily enjoyed having us both there!  She was apprehensive about playing kickball (not her favorite sport), but she did really great!!  

Look at her getting ready to play!  So cute - especially in her pig-tails!  :)

Emily has continued to take piano lessons throughout the summer and even though she doesn't love it, she seems to like playing the songs she already knows.  It's the practicing the new ones that isn't so much fun!  ;)

Emily and I went to the movie theater to see "Despicable Me 2".  It was funny, but not half as hilarious as Emily squealing with laughter every five minutes.  She LOVED it - and as a result, so did I!  :)

We went to the Akron Zoo with some friends at the beginning of the summer.  It was a beautiful day and we had such a great time!  :)

Emma Grace and Emily Grace -- two peas in a pod!  :)

Alex and Emily really enjoyed feeding the animals.  They really liked it when one of the goats climbed up the fence with it's front legs and was leaning over the top -- that was the highlight of the day!  :)

Here's the very, hungry goat trying to get even closer to the food - and his adoring fans!  :)

Emily was picking me a bouquet of clover flowers for my birthday.  She thought they were so pretty that I had to have some in a vase.  And I thought she was completely beautiful sitting in the grass picking weeds with her "Heidi-braids" and dress!  :)

Happy 4th of July!  We celebrated with cooking out and doing sparklers.  (Notice that the kids are wearing shorts with long sleeve shirts - It was actually too cold to eat outside!)

We went blueberry picking one Saturday and happened to run into some good friends that were there as well.  It was a happy accident as Alex and Clara got bored very quickly.  And in an attempt to stop them from eating ALL of the blueberries they picked, we had them race each other back and forth down the rows.  We all had a great time and we came home with a ton of blueberries!!  :)

Nelson put in a border around the playground area and here is Alex helping him anchor them - using his toy wooden hammer.  It didn't work so well, but he had a blast working on it and helping Dad!  :)

Earlier in June I took the kids strawberry picking.  While we were there, a local newspaper sent some reporters out and we were front-page news that day!  (It was obviously a slow day in Alliance!)  :)

Alex is so incredibly creative with things to play with.  Nelson installed new tires on the car and hadn't disposed of the old ones yet.  Well, that was ok with Alex - what a fun thing to roll up and down the driveway!  We were really impressed when he would roll it down the driveway towards the street and start slowing it down about ten feet from the street.  Safety first!  :)

This was the last day we had in the pool - it was the last week of July!  And you can tell in the first picture that Emily is shivering.  They only stayed in for a few minutes and then they tried to warm up on a lawn chair.  Like I said, it hasn't been all that warm this summer!  

Here they are warming themselves under their towels.  It only got up to 72 that day -- it was definitely not warm enough for the pool, but they wanted to get in anyway!  :)

AAAwwwwwwwwww!  What else can I say?  :)

We treated the kids to a matinee performance of The Lion King.  The kids were mesmerized by all the animals and even though they've seen the animated movie a dozen times, they were still shocked and moved when Mufasa died and Simba left the pride-land.  It was a fantastic show, but watching the kids was a true gift!  They absolutely loved it and as soon as it was over, they asked when we could see it again!  :)

Alex and Nelson go on an annual Father-Son camping weekend and then Emily and I get a Girls' Weekend.  We all look forward to it and we like to plan a lot of fun things!  Nelson and Alex went fishing the first day they were there and Alex caught his first fish.  It wasn't a big one, but it was off the first cast!  He was so excited!  :)

And since it was a Girls' Weekend, we went to a High Tea with some friends.  The girls got all dressed up (complete with tiaras and feather boas) and we had a really nice time!  :)

We also got our house painted at the end of Spring!  It was a light blue with dark blue accents.  Now it is grey with dark red accents.  It looks really fresh and new and we are so happy we updated!  :)

And while we were spreading mulch, some of the neighbor kids came over to play.  Well, they thought it would be fun to help us mulch - there's no explaining kids!  But we had a good time and it kept the kids busy and they were even helpful!  :)

Emily has now lost all four bottom teeth and her two top ones as well.  It's been a hard summer for eating apples and corn on the cob, but she's managed to survive!  :)

Here are pictures from First Friday again (August this time).  This was a sculpture of a fish that Emily and Nelson thought it was funny to make it look like they were being swallowed by it.  What a couple of nuts!  :)

We've had a nice summer and it's hard to believe school is starting in only one week.  I think we're all ready to get back to a schedule and a routine again, but it has been nice to have them home everyday!  They are two fun kiddos and they make life interesting!!  I love being their mom!  :)